freeform goodness
an irregularly updated weblog, since 2003
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/index.atomd.w.http://www.freeke.org/ffg/index.atomdaddy@freeke.orgCopyright 2002-2016 Dave Walker
Pyblosxom hhttp://pyblosxom.github.com/ 1.5.3
2018-01-01T01:15:25ZThis is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.Closing Out 2017 In The Snowhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/12/31/2017_Dec_312018-01-01T01:15:25Z2018-01-01T01:15:25Z
<div
data-live-photo
data-photo-src="http://www.freeke.org/i/2017/IMG_0104.jpg"
data-video-src="http://www.freeke.org/i/2017/IMG_0104.mov"
style="width: 672px; height: 504px">
</div>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/family/2017_Dec_31.htmlThanksgiving Dinner [Flickr]ffg2017-11-23T16:01:29-08:00tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/26831219709 <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/ffg/">ffg</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/26831219709/" title="Thanksgiving Dinner"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/26831219709_94347dbd46_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Thanksgiving Dinner" /></a></p>
2017-11-23T15:25:49-08:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/26831219709/Airpods Are Awesome (With a Couple of Caveats)http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/11/22/airpods2017-11-22T22:19:56Z2017-11-22T22:19:56Z
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/unshaven_airpods.jpg"
alt="See Airpod in ear. I need a shave." title="" width="270"
align="right"> I’m <em>often</em> an early adopter when it comes to
Apple gear. I picked up my Apple Watch, iPad, and a few other
things on launch day. When Apple introduced Airpods in 2016,
though, I held back a while, for a few reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li>I’m not a huge fan of earbuds. I think I’ve got slightly
funny-shaped ear canals, so they never quite feel right in my ears
(i.e. they always feel like they’re on the verge of falling
out)</li>
<li>Though I’m by no means an audiophile, I’m not a big fan of
open-ear headphones. They don’t really isolate you much from
outside sound (which has its pros and cons, more on this later),
and... I like bass.</li>
<li>At $159, they’re not an impulse buy. The only time I’ve ever
spent more than $75 on a pair of earphones was for a pair of
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6">Sony studio
monitors</a> (which were totally worth it, BTW.) These are also
tiny, which potentially translates to “easy to lose.”</li>
<li>Bluetooth largely sucks (but Apple seems to have eliminated
most of the pain points -- see below.)</li>
<li>They were a 1.0 product with a lot of unproven tech.</li>
</ol>
<p>Let me get the other disclaimers (the caveats mentioned in my
title) out of the way first. If you’re not completely inside the
Apple ecosystem, these are probably not for you. Like a lot of
Apple products, a lot of their virtues come from their integration
with the rest of the ecosystem. If you’re an Android person with a
Windows or Linux laptop, keep looking.</p>
<p>If you primarily buy earphones/headphones for audio quality,
keep looking. These are (quite) decent as far as earbuds go, but
they’ll never sound as good as a set of high-end closed-ear
phones.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/airpodfins.jpg" alt=
"fins for yr. airpods" align="right" width="250"> <a href=
"https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KH4BZQ">The solution</a>
to my “earpods fit weird in my ears” issue was surprisingly
simple.</p>
<p>That said, I finally found a use case that justified picking
them up. We live in an open plan house, and I like watching TV at
night (really, it’s the only chance I get.) I’ve tried other
solutions for balancing the TV volume, but generally speaking I’m
either in a situation when I can’t hear programming well enough to
enjoy it, or I’m annoying others in the house. <em>The</em> killer
feature for Airpods, for me, is that I could pair them at the
iCloud account level. This means that after pairing them once on my
iPhone, they automagically became accessible from my Apple Watch,
my iPad, my MacBook, and, most importantly, <em>my Apple TV</em>.
Plop them in your ears, then hold down the play/pause button until
the audio output device selector pops up. <em>There is no step
3</em>.</p>
<p>I use them sometimes from my phone (mostly when grocery
shopping), but where they’re most useful is at the office (paired
to my MacBook Pro) and on the aforementioned Apple TV. Since
they’re not completely audio-isolating, they work well in an office
where people may actually have need to get your attention, and
since you’re sitting down, you’re not really worried about them
falling out. They also work surprisingly well for conference
calls.</p>
<p>I haven’t even gotten into how clever the charging case is, or
how slick and painless it is moving them between your various
devices, or how much better the AAC compression sounds than
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Advanced_Audio_Distribution_Profile_.28A2DP.29">
A2DP</a>.</p>
<p>In short, they’re great and I’m very glad I bought them.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/gadgets/airpods.htmlFez-Wearing Dragon in the Living Roomhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/10/07/ar_dragon2017-10-07T14:21:29Z2017-10-07T14:21:29Z
<p>I don’t know if AR is “cooler” than VR, but at least you don’t
need a stupid looking hunk of geek strapped to your face to try
it.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src=
"https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/SqoNMw5f_0w" frameborder=
"0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href=
"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ar-dragon/id1270046606?mt=8">AR
Dragon</a></p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/computers/os/ios/ar_dragon.htmlAM Hugs [Flickr]ffg2017-10-02T11:55:00-07:00tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/37458092321 <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/ffg/">ffg</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/37458092321/" title="AM Hugs"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/37458092321_8d22caea2a_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="AM Hugs" /></a></p>
2017-10-01T08:32:15-08:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/37458092321/Little Boy, Doing Little Boy Thingshttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/07/23/jacob_starr-park2017-07-23T14:44:52Z2017-07-23T14:44:52Z
<div class="tg-wrap">
<table class="tg">
<tr>
<th class="tg-baqh" colspan="2"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/awayfromexplosions.jpg" width="650"
alt="Aerosmith plays as things explode in the background"></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tg-baqh"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/grinning.jpg" width="325" alt=
"a big smile"></td>
<td class="tg-baqh"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/telescope.jpg" width="325" alt=
"krakens ahoy!"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/family/jacob_starr-park.htmlIMG_2691 [Flickr]ffg2017-06-26T07:17:15-07:00tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/34738747803 <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/ffg/">ffg</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/34738747803/" title="IMG_2691"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4287/34738747803_1eea524060_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_2691" /></a></p>
2017-06-26T09:19:22-08:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/34738747803/Red Teahttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/05/18/rooibos2017-05-18T22:08:30Z2017-05-18T22:08:30Z
<p><a href="https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/rooibos.jpg"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/rooibos_1300.jpg"
alt="Red tea"
width="650"
title=""></a></p>
<p>My current obsession is <a href=
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos">rooibos tea</a>, served
with a teaspoon of heavy cream and lightly sugared. Really hits the
spot towards the end of the workday.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/entertainment/foodanddrink/rooibos.htmlJSON Feedhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/05/18/jsonfeed2017-05-18T21:24:48Z2017-05-18T21:24:48Z
<p>As someone who lived through the <a href=
"https://www.freeke.org/cgi-bin/omega?P=atom+rss+winer&amp;DEFAULTOP=or&amp;DB=default&amp;FMT=query&amp;xP=Zatom&amp;xDB=default&amp;xFILTERS=--O">
Syndication Wars</a>, I find <a href=
"https://jsonfeed.org/2017/05/17/announcing_json_feed">this</a>
interesting.</p>
<p>I’m way older and balder than last time. I also have a
4-year-old, so I’m sitting this one out. It looks like a PyBlosxom
plugin would be a Saturday afternoon project or so, but I don’t
really have Saturday afternoons free anymore.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/computers/internet/jsonfeed.htmlNever. Sleeping. Again.http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/04/17/neversleep2017-04-17T15:44:14Z2017-04-17T15:44:14Z
<p>Woke last night to the sensation of something scurrying across
my abdomen. Swatted instinctively, felt a handful of… something.
Carried it into the bathroom, hit the light, and found a dead
centipede in my hand.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/misc/neversleep.htmlLinks for 2017-03-28 [del.icio.us]2017-03-29T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-28<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/internetofshit/status/846676220892889088/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
pretty sure this is how Battlestar Galactica starts, @elonmusk https://t.co/CxlkZP8ozq
- Internet of Shit (internetofshit) http://twitter.com/internetofshit/status/846676220892889088</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-28Links for 2017-03-27 [del.icio.us]2017-03-28T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-27<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/846435757111873536">Twitter</a><br/>
For every question he gets I imagine Spicer has three options like in a Bioware RPG and he always chooses the worst… https://t.co/ZY6y8z2xvb
- Jamelle Bouie (jbouie) http://twitter.com/jbouie/status/846435757111873536</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/Kyle_MacLachlan/status/846473011444269056/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
The family that consumes doughnuts, cherry pies and coffee together, stays together! #twinpeaks https://t.co/F2tIVkxXKn
- Kyle MacLachlan (Kyle_MacLachlan) http://twitter.com/Kyle_MacLachlan/status/846473011444269056</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/sudosev/status/846376181637238785/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
The code I expect to write vs. the code I end up writing. https://t.co/ij5GaA811u
- Sev (sudosev) http://twitter.com/sudosev/status/846376181637238785</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-27Links for 2017-03-26 [del.icio.us]2017-03-27T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-26<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-sponsor-single-payer-healthcare-bill-574403">Bernie Sanders to Sponsor Single-Payer Healthcare Bill</a><br/>
Senator Bernie Sanders will sponsor a single-payer healthcare bill https://t.co/TJqZva4za8 https://t.co/r3RGQSen5u
- Newsweek (Newsweek) http://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/846068714537734144</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/_hbg1/status/846138731874713600">Twitter</a><br/>
Hoo-boy! Haven't had a "cuck" in awhile!
Then again, haven't had a "bulketpointing" either. https://t.co/8ZlOLWVyFl
- Sleeping Giants (slpng_giants) http://twitter.com/slpng_giants/status/846141607116124160</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-26Links for 2017-03-25 [del.icio.us]2017-03-26T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-25<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/Karoli/status/845502918610448385">Twitter</a><br/>
So very happy to be wrong. https://t.co/NKaV3QTCgp
- Shelley Powers (shelleypowers) http://twitter.com/shelleypowers/status/845603930428133376</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/845702712675196930">Twitter</a><br/>
Only a brain-dead idiot would write a tweet like this after the Trump University fiasco. https://t.co/kBnOlbOmVI
- Shelley Powers (shelleypowers) http://twitter.com/shelleypowers/status/845708023683264512</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/GeeDee215/status/845790859681550336">Twitter</a><br/>
I think it was @AdamSerwer who once called "Don't Stop Believin'" the "Lift Every Voice and Sing" for white folks. https://t.co/e1l59QZR8Y
- Jamelle Bouie (jbouie) http://twitter.com/jbouie/status/845798734608977922</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-25Links for 2017-03-24 [del.icio.us]2017-03-25T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-24<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/LOLGOP/status/845276162217689089/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
But it helps rich people afford slightly better monocles to squint at the poor through. https://t.co/SdBQk87ddd
- LOLGOP (LOLGOP) http://twitter.com/LOLGOP/status/845276162217689089</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/owillis/status/845267849811775488/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
this morning the republican party is just trying not to look down. https://t.co/vTvBxw6XLS
- Oliver Willis (owillis) http://twitter.com/owillis/status/845267849811775488</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/dansinker/status/845017799319793664/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
Looks like someone found out Furiosa made off with his best breeder wives. https://t.co/BDd4zKVU0g
- dan sinker (dansinker) http://twitter.com/dansinker/status/845017799319793664</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/XLNB/status/845371011134472193/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
Obama: Hey Trump, I heard ya ole fufu ass bill didn't have enough- https://t.co/Kp0LRQVWDl
- X (XLNB) http://twitter.com/XLNB/status/845371011134472193</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/pattymo/status/845348593426948097/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
These were posted seven hours apart https://t.co/cQdRk26JrJ
- Patrick Monahan (pattymo) http://twitter.com/pattymo/status/845348593426948097</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/ggoodale/status/845271573946818561/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
tfw you forget to turn off geotagging before trolling. https://t.co/f6bDuGdP3i
- Grant Goodale (ggoodale) http://twitter.com/ggoodale/status/845271573946818561</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-24Links for 2017-03-21 [del.icio.us]2017-03-22T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-21<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/robertnlee/status/843963380121518080/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
https://t.co/CRwxHM2N7Y
- Virus X (robertnlee) http://twitter.com/robertnlee/status/843963380121518080</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/EvertonBlueArmy/status/844092996945625088/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
Happy 54th birthday, Ronald Koeman! https://t.co/IwKeKDuKuJ
- Everton Blue Army (EvertonBlueArmy) http://twitter.com/EvertonBlueArmy/status/844092996945625088</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/wuerker/status/843871066892259328/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
Trying to get everyone to miss the forest for the trees -- or to say it with a nautical metaphor..... https://t.co/yq4oRicZNe
- Matt Wuerker (wuerker) http://twitter.com/wuerker/status/843871066892259328</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/KalvinMacleod/status/843918226623021056/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
I feel like this is super important https://t.co/l7ZSHvnK4M
- Kalvin (KalvinMacleod) http://twitter.com/KalvinMacleod/status/843918226623021056</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-21Links for 2017-03-20 [del.icio.us]2017-03-21T00:00:00-07:00http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-20<ul>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/843818891398828032">Twitter</a><br/>
Builder working on ours said yesterday he had a grade 7 on the piano. Nice for him, but it's got nothing to do with… https://t.co/xciE98EhJT
- Everton Musings (EvertonMusings) http://twitter.com/EvertonMusings/status/843818891398828032</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/wokieleaks1/status/843504030081077254/photo/1">Twitter</a><br/>
Hayden Panettiere finally getting woke to the chemtrail conspiracy https://t.co/ZFBCZejINh
- Google #FlatEarth (wokieleaks1) http://twitter.com/wokieleaks1/status/843504030081077254</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/843855829778423810">Twitter</a><br/>
I'm so glad the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence livestream has YouTube comments on it's so helpful I lov… https://t.co/1po9ngAuQU
- Matt Novak (paleofuture) http://twitter.com/paleofuture/status/843855829778423810</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/843857530874925056">Twitter</a><br/>
This is America listening to Comey and Rogers congressional hearing on Trump and Russia collusion since July of 201… https://t.co/rXXaaB86b1
- Mr. Weeks (MrDane1982) http://twitter.com/MrDane1982/status/843857530874925056</li>
<li><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/843922340660547584">Twitter</a><br/>
One does not simply walk into Mordor; one buys oneself an Individual or Private Vehicle Pass at the gate, valid for… https://t.co/NGupU6Xr4y
- Mordor National Park (MordorNPS) http://twitter.com/MordorNPS/status/843922340660547584</li>
</ul>http://del.icio.us/ffg#2017-03-20[Flickr]ffg2017-01-08T09:24:26-08:00tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/32071015651 <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/ffg/">ffg</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/32071015651/" title=" "><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/564/32071015651_8669b03b38_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt=" " /></a></p>
2017-01-08T12:23:58-08:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/32071015651/Jake’s Cakehttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2017/01/05/jake_cake2017-01-05T17:15:23Z2017-01-05T17:15:23Z
<p>We really liked the way Jake’s birthday cake (from a little over
2 weeks ago) turned out.</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/cake_scooty.jpg"><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2017/cake_scooty_1300.jpg"
alt="A little red cake scooty"
title="A little red cake scooty"
width="650"></a></p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/family/jake_cake.htmlHappy Holidays 2016http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/12/23/holidays_20162016-12-23T16:27:11Z2016-12-23T16:27:11Z
<p><a href=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/ornament_2016.jpg"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/ornament_2016_sm.jpg" alt=
"hanging star" title="" width="650"></a></p>
<p>We wish you all things merry and cuddly.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/beauty/holidays_2016.htmlIMG_2478 [Flickr]ffg2016-12-20T13:44:42-08:00tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/31624543502 <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/ffg/">ffg</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/31624543502/" title="IMG_2478"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/482/31624543502_95f1f48065_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_2478" /></a></p>
2016-12-20T12:45:58-08:00https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffg/31624543502/Some Time Shortly After Robots Destroyed The City’s Highway System But Before They Helped Rebuild Ithttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/12/01/destroyed_highway2016-12-01T18:50:49Z2016-12-01T18:50:49Z
<p>As they will do.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_2395.jpg"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_2395_s.jpg" alt="highway" title=
"highway system" width="650"></a></p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/family/destroyed_highway.htmlScripting A Light Bulbhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/11/13/fluxbulb2016-11-14T00:57:18Z2016-11-14T00:57:18Z
<p><em>This is adapted from an email I sent to an internal "gadget
fan" mailing list at work in response to a question someone asked
about controlling lighting electronically.</em></p>
<p>I went “simple” and I’m pretty happy with it.</p>
<p>I bought <a href=
"https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SGLKWQW">this bulb</a> from
Amazon.</p>
<p>It’s made in China and sold under several different brand names,
most commonly “Flux” and “Magichome.”</p>
<p>You can get the WiFi RGBW version from Amazon (and a domestic
seller) for ~$35.</p>
<p>If you feel comfortable shopping via Alibaba (I don’t) you could
probably get it for ~$20.</p>
<p>There are several client tools for interacting with them. I’ve
used <a href="https://github.com/vikstrous/zengge-lightcontrol">one
written in Go</a> and an (easier to work with, IMO) <a href=
"https://github.com/beville/flux_led">one written in
Python.</a></p>
<p><a href=
"https://threatpost.com/iot-botnets-are-the-new-normal-of-ddos-attacks/121093/">
It doesn't do the dumb thing</a> (UPnP on the open internet) so no,
my light bulb isn't helping to bring down Twitter.</p>
<p>In addition, if you live in the iOS universe there’s <a href=
"https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-magichome">a plugin</a>
that makes it work with <a href=
"https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge">Homebridge</a> (and hence
<a href="https://www.apple.com/ios/home/">HomeKit</a>.)</p>
<p>I can tell Siri to control my lights. Useless, but fun.</p>
<p>More practically, I wrote a Python script that turns on the lamp
in my son’s room in the morning and gradually eases him up with
subtle color changes.</p>
<p>It kicks off from a cron job running on a <a href=
"http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/computers/os/linux/raspberry_pi_server.html">
Raspberry Pi</a>. (It doesn’t have to be a Pi, of course — any
Linux machine or Mac would work.)</p>
<p>I’m sure it could be made to work from Windows, too, but that’s
Somebody Else’s Problem. 😁</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/gadgets/fluxbulb.htmlThe Warren Wide Webhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/10/04/warrenwideweb2016-10-04T19:42:13Z2016-10-04T19:42:13Z
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/the_web.jpeg" alt=
"The Web" title="The Web" width="650"></p>
<p>This gal is enormous, probably almost as big across as a nickel
(not counting the legs.) There are always flies buzzing around the
bush below this web, so I imagine she eats very well.</p>
<p>I hate flies more than spiders, who generally mind their own
business, so I’m not going to bother her.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/beauty/warrenwideweb.htmlHome Server Addendumhttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/09/26/raspi_zero_pihole2016-09-26T19:44:38Z2016-09-26T19:44:38Z
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/adam-krell.png" alt=
"GkrellM Adam" title="GkrellM display: adam" width="140" style=
"float:right;">Micro Center is selling the Raspberry Pi Zero for
99¢ as a loss leader. I bought one, then spent another few bucks
for a boot disk and a USB-to-Ethernet adapter and a minimal case.
Total investment: about $15.</p>
<p>I’m using it as a <a href="https://pi-hole.net">Pi-Hole</a>
machine.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/computers/os/linux/raspi_zero_pihole.htmlExposed 1946 1981 2016http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/09/16/exposed_19812016-09-16T21:12:02Z2016-09-16T21:12:02Z
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/exposed_lp.jpg" alt=
"Exposed album and art" title="the physical-ish object" width=
"600"></p>
<p>I bought this sampler back in 1981, when I was 13 years old and
had a paper route. It was a double vinyl LP for $2.99, which was
quite a steal.</p>
<p>In retrospect, it was a pretty much all over the place
musically, but then, so was I.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned this comp on Facebook a few months ago and I
ended up <a href=
"https://www.discogs.com/Various-Exposed-A-Cheap-Peek-At-Todays-Provocative-New-Rock/release/1443301">
looking it up on Discogs</a>.</p>
<p>I decided to try to see how many of the tracks I could track
down, 35 years later, and was pleasantly amazed to find that, with
only a little work, I was able to find that every track was legally
streamable. (Re-assembling this on Spotify, Tidal, or other
services is left as an exercise for the reader.)</p>
<p>When you think about it, that’s pretty incredible: a compilation
of new artists, selected specifically for their relative obscurity,
and 35 years later <em>all</em> of the songs are easily available
through the mechanisms most used by modern listeners to play music
in their homes and on the go. What are the odds that a slate of 22
catalog artists from 1946 would have been available in 1981?</p>
<p><a href=
"https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/exposed-1981/idpl.ecae3aa0a4754cc7b0b2a2e47227e5e2?mt=1&amp;app=music">
(Apple Music playlist link)</a></p>
<iframe src=
"//tools.applemusic.com/embed/v1/playlist/pl.ecae3aa0a4754cc7b0b2a2e47227e5e2?country=us"
height="450px" width="85%" frameborder="0"></iframe>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/entertainment/music/streamingplaylists/exposed_1981.htmlLabor Day Picnic 2016http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/09/05/labor_day_20162016-09-06T02:48:35Z2016-09-06T02:48:35Z
<p>
Burgers were roasted, corn was eaten, little boys played with
bubbles.
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_2302.jpg"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_2302_144dpi.jpg" width="650"
alt="Aunt Carolyn, Jacob, and Mommy"></a><br>
<i>Aunt Carolyn, Jacob, and Mommy.</i>
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_0391.jpg"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/IMG_0391_144dpi.jpg" alt=
"Jake with bubbles" width="650"></a>
</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/labor_day_2016.htmlGarden Tomatoeshttp://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/08/15/tomatoes2016-08-15T19:59:36Z2016-08-15T19:59:36Z
<p>We’ve got a ton of them, and more every day. Better make some
homemade spaghetti sauce or something.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/tomatoes.jpg"
width="650"
alt="Fresh tomatoes"></p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/entertainment/foodanddrink/tomatoes.htmlA Home Server in 2016http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/08/10/raspberry_pi_server2016-08-10T22:25:45Z2016-08-10T22:25:45Z
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/raspi_krell.png"
align="right"
alt="gkrellm display for raspberry pi"
width="122">Over the years, I’ve had various boxes around the
house that you could consider a home server. Often, these were
just my desktop machine doing double duty. Occasionally,
they’d be some old semi-retired tower machine shoved under a
spare table, gobbling frightening amounts of electricity with
spinning drives and cooling fans making way too much
noise.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/raspi.jpg"
width="650"
alt="Raspberry Pi 3 in a pretty box"
title="Raspberry Pi 3 in a pretty box"></p>
<p>It’s really funny to think that this ~$50 guy is really just as
powerful as the &gt;$100,000 “medium iron” HP-UX box I was
sysadmining barely more than a decade and a half ago.</p>
<p><a href=
"http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=1083"><img src=
"https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/A1884A.JPG"
alt="HP 9000 / 800 Series"
width="500"></a></p>
<p>These handled the typical home server tasks: holding photos,
music, backups, whatever. Serving media inside the house. For many
years, this very weblog lived on home servers. With the advent of
ubiquitous cloud storage, I’ve outsourced most of these tasks.</p>
<p>It’s still useful to keep some of these things within the home
network. What doesn’t really make sense anymore is devoting floor
space and lots of watts to some ugly, oversized tower.</p>
<p>Earlier this year I finally bought my first <a href=
"https://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a> system. They’re
basically teeny tiny Unix boxes (roughly the size of a pack of
cigarettes) for hobbyists. They basically pack a smartphone-level
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip">SoC</a> on
a small board that can be deployed with minimal fanfare for all
sorts of applications.</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/tech/computers/os/linux/raspberry_pi_server.htmlScience!http://www.freeke.org/ffg/2016/07/26/jake_michigan_science_center2016-07-26T15:49:38Z2016-07-26T15:49:38Z
<p>
<img src="https://www.freeke.org/i/2016/science.jpg"
width="650"
alt="Jacob @ Michigan Science Center"
title="Jacob @ Michigan Science Center">
</p>
http://www.freeke.org/ffg/personal/family/jake_michigan_science_center.html